The energy sources of the world are currently not being adequately directed to the urgent need for many peoples of the world to have decent water and ample supplies of it. Further, there is considerable concern as to the quantities of fuels and the effect on the world and its creatures through the use of the fuels. Therefore, there is a resurgence of interest in the use of solar energy. As a result many publications are issuing. Among these dealing with the production of potable water are the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,078,975; 4,075,063; 4,062,735; 4,053,368; 4,010,080; 3,785,931; 3,428,529; 3,414,481; 3,359,183; 3,357,917; 3,357,898; 3,351,538; 3,338,797; 3,300,393; and 3,135,466. An examination of the prior art will reveal a considerable diversity in approaches. Quite a number use moving parts or require energy other than solar energy. While there are a number of devices that use no moving elements, it is believed that hithertofore no one has applied gradient effects to produce a vapor and reverse gradient effects to condense it to the liquid state in the manner of this invention.
It is, thus, an objective of this invention to effect the distillation of water from a non-potable or other source to produce a distilled water which is potable. Another aim is to effect an increase gradually in the temperature of a liquid or in its purity, to the point where the pure liquid vaporizes or advances and then gradually to reduce its temperature to the point where vapor becomes or is maintained as liquid. A still further purpose is to effect the aforesaid changes by using materials varying in their thermal conductivity and/or varying in their capillary effects. These other objectives of this invention appear hereinafter.